On the Media

My company recently moved to a new office building (which I’m displeased about, but that’s a whole nother issue that I won’t get into). One of the quirks of this building is that any messenger-delivered items, of which I get quite a few, are delivered to an office in the basement. You seriously have to walk through the depths of corporate America to find this place. Anyway, I just went down to pick up a package and was enjoying 15 seconds of news on the Captivate TV in our elevators on my way back up.

This little political tidbit pops up, informing elevator riders everywhere that George W. Bush is the first US President in nearly a decade to visit Palestine. HELLO? He’s been the only US president for nearly a decade. Bill Clinton visited Palestine in December of 1998. If this is the first trip in nearly a decade, that rests squarely on George Bush’s shoulders. It’s just such a prime example of how the media spins things. Yes, it’s technically true that this is the first visit by a US President in nearly a decade. But to say it like that suggests that Bush is somehow making progress where others have not, which is just laughable. Oh, also laughable? His claim that he’ll broker a Mideast peace treaty before his term is up.